Jobseekers flood federal job fair in Fredericksburg

An estimated 7,000 people flooded into a federal jobs fair in Fredericksburg on Monday, causing long wait times and leave an additional 1,000 people standing in line when the job fair closed at 4 p.m.

Virginia Sen. Mark Warner said Monday afternoon that he would work with federal agencies to hold another job fair in the region in the coming weeks.

“This unanticipated demand says a lot about the state of our economy,” Warner, who attended the job fair, said in a statement. “I heard story after story from folks who never expected to see their lives turned upside down by unemployment.”

About 3,000 people had signed up for the job fair at the end of last week, Warner said, and about 5,000 people had signed up by Sunday night.